State of Social

Commerce
Report: 2023
From the MikMak Shopping Index
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023
State of Social Commerce Report: 2023
Social commerce is a hot topic, and it’s positioned to ignite eCommerce sales
even more in the future. According to a Statista report, global sales through social
media platforms climbed to an estimated $992 billion in 2022. That figure is
expected to hit $2.9 trillion by 2026. And according to data from the MikMak
Platform, shopping traffic on social channels grew 19 percent year over year.
As money streams into social platforms, select marketing strategies are helping
eCommerce brands carve out a bigger hunk of market share. In this guide, we
analyze MikMak data to uncover social commerce trends and spot what best
practices are capturing the most attention—and sales—through social platforms.
QUICK REVIEW
What is social commerce?
Social commerce is an eCommerce term that describes shopping
experiences that take place on a social media platform. It also includes
moments when shoppers click on social media links that direct them to a
purchasing option on a retailer’s page.
Social commerce is blazing
U.S. social commerce sales will surpass $53 billion this year, and
they’re expected to grow at a double-digit clip in the next three years.
There are a few factors that are feeding this rapid growth:
● New social commerce activity is surging: New shoppers
continue to seize social commerce options. In fact, it has
been reported that almost 108 million people will buy via
social platforms in the U.S. in 2023.
● Average spend is increasing: As activity grows, spending is
also increasing. According to eMarketer, retail social
commerce spending increased by 26.9 percent, on average,
in 2022.
● Millennials and Gen Zers are in the driver’s seat: As
Millenials and Gen Zers who are comfortable with
technology build their bank accounts, they could push social
commerce even higher in the future.
"Our consumer, because they happen to
be a Gen Z consumer, lives a good
portion of their lives on social media so
that’s where a lot of the magic happens
with our commerce driving abilities.”
- Soyoung Kang, CMO, eos
Season 1, episode 49
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023

Livestream shopping could catch fire Meta leads social Commerce, but
According to eMarketer, livestream shopping is expected to bring in $623 billion in China
TikTok is rising quickly
this year. In the U.S., Forrester estimates it will hit just $25 billion. But that U.S. figure could
explode soon; Facebook, Amazon, TikTok, and Pinterest have all recently announced
Wondering which social platforms are being used most for
investments in livestream shopping.
social commerce? Meta’s platforms, Facebook and
Instagram, continued to be the most popular sites for social
Wondering how livestream commerce looks in action? At MikMak, we’ve seen our
commerce buyers in 2022. However, TikTok is quickly
customers across categories, such as CPG, grocery, and beauty, successfully use
catching up. Last year, TikTok’s number of U.S. social buyers
livestreaming as part of their eCommerce experience. For instance, snack brands have
passed Pinterest for the first time, hitting 23.7 million,
seen success by placing ads within gaming livestreams on Twitch, and beauty brands have
according to eMarketer.
streamed makeup tutorials on TikTok. These creative ads target shoppers in real time on
the social platforms consumers engage with most.

U.S. Commerce Buyers By Platform (in millions)

The content we create for

live streaming is
essentially very different
from what you get in
store. Content first then
the shopping behavior
follows if it is something
very relevant and unique.
- Jie Cheng, Mondelez

Source: eMarketer
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023

TikTok continues to emerge as a major

What social platforms are seeing the
player in social commerce
highest purchase intent?
When it comes to traffic share, TikTok is quickly gaining ground. In 2021,
Facebook and Instagram continue to generate the biggest share of social
TikTok sat in seventh place for social commerce traffic share. In 2022, it
commerce purchase intent clicks (PIC) in 2022 with 55 percent and 32
leapt up to the third position, securing nearly all of its share of traffic in a
percent, respectively. Purchase intent clicks represent shopping traffic,
single year. Facebook also increased its social commerce traffic share in
defined as the number of times shoppers have clicked through to at least one
2022, growing 7.81 percent year over year.
retailer from a social platform.

Share of Purchase Intent by Social Platform

Change in Share of Purchase Intent by Social Platform, 2022
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023
Purchase Intent Rate Leaders
TikTok drives shoppers by Platform
The grocery category attracts more clicks to Target, Walmart, and
When it comes to Purchase Intent Clicks (PICs) or shopping traffic
Amazon Purchase
Intent Rate*
across all social platforms, the same categories led the way in 2022 as Retailer
Leaders (in
in 2021. Grocery, beauty, and personal care ranked in the top three Although Facebook and Instagram take order)
spots. However, grocery PICs shot up significantly in 2022, jumping by the top spot, TikTok appears as the
61 percent over 2021. Beauty fell by 23 percent, and personal care third-most popular social platform for
increased by 34 percent. This could indicate shoppers are scaling back driving shoppers to Target and fourth for
1. Facebook
and opting for more essentials as financial stress increases. Walmart and Amazon. Pinterest only
2. Instagram
appears on the top 5 list for Drizly and
Walmart 3. YouTube
Instacart, likely because of the
4. TikTok
platform’s ties to recipes and
5. Snapchat
cocktail-making ideas.

1. Facebook
2. Instagram
Categories with most Social Commerce Traffic*
Amazon 3. YouTube
4. TikTok
1. GROCERY 5. Snapchat
2. BEAUTY
*Purchase Intent Rate (PI rate)
3. HAIR AND PERSONAL CARE
4. ALCOHOL 1. Facebook
5. TOYS The percentage of shoppers who clicked 2. Instagram
through to at least one retailer, measures Target 3. TikTok
how likely a population of in-market 4. YouTube
*Traffic = Purchase Intent Clicks, or the number of times shoppers have shoppers is to make a purchase. 5. Snapchat
clicked through to at least one retailer from a social platform.
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023

At the same time, Instagram and Facebook dominate in terms of

Social platforms draw in unique buyers price. The average annual Purchase Intent Value* (PIV) for an
Instagram shopper is $158, and the average annual PIV for a
The leading categories also varied by social platform in 2022. For instance, the Facebook shopper is $133. These numbers tower above Snap,
grocery category featured the most clicks on all platforms—except TikTok, where which has an average PIV of just $21.
beauty led the way. When it comes to purchase intent rates (PIR)—a leading indicator
of conversion rates that measures how likely a population of in-market shoppers is to
make a purchase—infant care was the leading category on Facebook and Instagram, Avg Annual Purchase Intent Value by Social Platform
while toys was the top category on Snapchat and YouTube. Again, TikTok stood out as
an outlier, with health & wellness grabbing the highest PIR on its platform.

How are buyers Avg Number of Products per Basket, by

Social Platform
spending on different
social platforms?
The amount shoppers spend and
the size of their baskets vary
dramatically from one platform to
the next. Overall, shoppers are
buying a higher quantity of items *Purchase intent value = the potential dollar value of the product
from Pinterest and Snapchat. Those selected by a shopper when clicking through to a retailer, calculated
platforms saw 3.52 and 3.24 items, by multiplying the listed SKU price and the total number of purchase
respectively, in the average intent clicks.
shopper’s basket.
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023

What does social commerce data mean for

eCommerce brands?
Overall, the numbers show that social media can be a cost-effective and
high-performing commerce channel for both brands and retailers. The trick
going forward is to pinpoint the social channels that resonate most with your
shopping audiences. From there, keep testing, analyzing data, and weaving
creative messages into those channels. Above all else, stay flexible and
anchored to data. Especially during today’s rocky economic climate, the
faster you can act on real-time social commerce data, the easier it will be to
capture more sales.
Get started with social commerce today
When your consumer is interested in a product, the shortest path to
purchase is through their preferred retailer. Every step outside of the
intended path to purchase opens up opportunities for your competitors
to intervene.

With MikMak, you can give consumers what they want while also:
● Bringing agility and efficiency into your organization
● Being able to own and act on invaluable audience insights
● Freeing up your teams to work smarter
● Strengthening retailer relationships
● Driving BIG business decisions and results
MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023

Here are just a few examples of how it looks in action:

FB - Hills TikTok - Hasbro Pinterest - Tito’s

MikMak • State of Social Commerce Report: 2023

MikMak Social Commerce Customer Stories

OxiClean Aveeno Garrison Brothers Distillery Clairol

Read Case Study Read Case Study Read Case Study Read Case Study
 Want to keep learning about Social Commerce?
All data and insights from this Social
Commerce Report are sourced from
the MikMak Shopping Index.

The MikMak Shopping Index was developed to provide a

standardized set of metrics, methodology, and benchmarks to
help drive brands’ business results and strategy. It is a collection
Check out these BRAVE COMMERCE episodes: of key eCommerce KPIs collected across hundreds of brands and
over 250 channels and more than 2,000 retailer integrations to
understand consumer online shopping behavior. The Index also
LISTEN NOW LISTEN NOW LISTEN NOW LISTEN NOW includes data from MikMak Shopper Intelligence, which ties
first-party eCommerce data to 1,000+ demographic and
psychographic data points and can be segmented by product,
retailer, and more. Shopper Intelligence is available through an
industry-exclusive partnership with LiveRamp.

All data in this report is from Jan. 1, 2021-Dec. 1, 2022.

The power of social Mondelez’s Jie Pam Kaufman of The art of

for brand building Cheng on different Paramount on storytelling and
with eos Products eCommerce adapting IP to margarita making
CMO Soyoung adoption & maturity consumer goods, with Patrón's Let’s chat!
Kang. dynamics across utilizing new social Adrian Parker.
global markets. channels, and leading Want to get even more insights?
a major brand.
Contact marketing@mikmak.com!